We know we’ve got to be right and perform

Burnley face Lincoln City tomorrow in the FA Cup and that brings the Imps manager Danny Cowley to Turf Moor again. Last Sunday he sat in the stand watching us play Chelsea but this time he’ll be on the touchline.

He issued a rallying call for everyone involved with Lincoln ahead of the game. He said: “We have only got 3,2000 on Saturday so we are going to need them to be two people and we are all going to have to get to a level we have never been at before.

“Whether you are playing, whether you are managing, whether you are supporting Lincoln City on Saturday, to get a successful outcome from the game, you are going to have to find a new level.

“Every time we’ve needed them (the fans) this season, they’ve been there for us, and we wouldn’t be where we are without their contribution.”

Looking at the game, Cowley added: “”If we’re realistic, we’d beat them once in a 100 times, that’s the truth, but we have to go into the game believing this is our opportunity because without belief we have nothing.

“When we have these huge challenges in front of us, we normally break them down into quarters, but for Saturday we’re breaking them down into sixths, 15 minute parts. We’re going to play the first 15 minutes like or life depends on it and see if we can get through it with the scores still being equal. if we can, then it gets slightly easier, one per cent easier.

“When you look at Burnley there are no chinks, mentally or physically. They’re outstanding in both those areas. It’s a huge challenge but it’s one we’re going to enjoy. We’re going to make sure we give th every best version of ourselves and try to match the commitment of our supporters who have ben queuing up all night to get tickets.

“We’re going to be brave, we’re going to fight and give it one hell of a go. If we do all those things, we might give ourselves that chance. We’ve achieved the impossible to get here, we’ve just got to go and do it again.

“I think this is the toughest draw we could have got, I genuinely mean that. They are very well equipped to be able to cope with teams like ourselves. People might think that is crazy when you consider we could have drawn Man City, Arsenal and Chelsea, but I’m not sure those teams are as well equipped to deal with us and our style.

“Burnley are team oriented and seem to have a lot of honest, hard working professionals. A lot of them have got to the Premier League the hard way. They had to fight their way through the divisions and when you do that it builds a resolve and makes you value what you’ve got.

“We have huge admiration for what they’ve done and for Sean Dyche and his staff. If he was a foreign manager he would be getting a lot more plaudits than he currently is. He’s the type of manager you’d want to play for.”

From Chelsea to Lincoln in six days and that didn’t go unnoticed by the Clarets’ boss who said: “We were underdogs last week against a fine Chelsea side and delivered a very good performance. This week we are considered favourites, just for the obvious reasons.

“That doesn’t come into our thinking. We know we’ve got to be right and we know we’ve got to perform and we’ve done very well at doing that. Our application and focus on the next challenge has been very good, and that’s what we’ll use again.

“When you think about it, a lot of our players have had their own journeys, whether it’s been adversity through injury, whether it’s been re-igniting their careers, whether it’s been having a knock back to go forwards again.

“It’s not always been easy, so they know they’ve got to fight and they know the opposition will fight, so I think there is a clear mindedness and quite a bloody mindedness to the way we work here. Our focus is on making sure we’re ready to take what we need to do to make sure we get through, and that’s our job.”

He added: “The way that we work has served us well. In fact, I’ll probably enhance that thinking. I’ll say ‘all the details are important, the mentality is vital.1 The physicality is a given for us because we know how fit we are, but we’ve got to be right to take the challenge on. If anything, we’ll enhance that next game is the most important one kind of attitude.”